1999

Sales and Marketing Management magazine's April 1999 issue listed Roanoke as one of the twenty (20) hottest domestic markets in which to do business in 1999. The magazine predicted retail sales would grow 26% and effective buying income would increase 21% by 2002.

Roanoke ranked first of all metropolitan areas in Virginia in real per capita personal income in a study released on May 3, 1999. Gilbert R Yochum and Vinod B Agarwal, both professors of economics at Old Dominion University, used cost of living indices to produce real income figures. The Roanoke MSA ranked eleventh in the nation.

Center in the Square has been recognized as the top downtown economic development project in the world by theInternational Downtown Association (IDA). This award, announced October 4, 1999, honors the impact Center in the Square has had in the transformation of downtown Roanoke.

According to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the city of Roanoke is ranked 14th nationally in the number of telecommunications equipment and service jobs in emerging firms.